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Stefan Fredenhagen

Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Fredenhagen.

46 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Boundary Liouville theory at c=1

The c=1 Liouville theory has received some attention recently as the Euclidean version of an exact rolling tachyon background. In an earlier paper it was shown that the bulk theory can be identified with the interacting c=1 limit of unitary minimal models. Here we extend the analysis of the c=1-limit to the boundary problem. Most importantly, we show that the FZZT branes of Liouville theory give rise to a new 1-parameter family of boundary theories at c=1. These models share many features with the boundary Sine-Gordon theory, in particular they possess an open string spectrum with band-gaps of finite width. We propose explicit formulas for the boundary 2-point function and for the bulk-boundary operator product expansion in the c=1 boundary Liouville model. As a by-product of our analysis we also provide a nice geometric interpretation for ZZ branes and their relation with FZZT branes in the c=1 theory.

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Charges of twisted branes: the exceptional cases

The charges of the twisted D-branes for the two exceptional cases (SO(8) with the triality automorphism and E_6 with charge conjugation) are determined. To this end the corresponding NIM-reps are expressed in terms of the fusion rules of the invariant subalgebras. As expected the charge groups are found to agree with those characterising the untwisted branes.

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On Minisuperspace Models of S-branes

In this note we reconsider the minisuperspace toy models for rolling and bouncing tachyons. We show that the theories require to choose boundary conditions at infinity since particles in an exponentially unbounded potential fall to infinity in finite world-sheet time. Using standard techniques from operator theory, we determine the possible boundary conditions and we compute the corresponding energy spectra and minisuperspace 3-point functions. Based on this analysis we argue in particular that world-sheet models of S-branes possess a discrete spectrum of conformal weights containing both positive and negative values. Finally, some suggestions are made for possible relations with previous studies of the minisuperspace theory.

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Organizing boundary RG flows

We show how a large class of boundary RG flows in two-dimensional conformal field theories can be summarized in a single rule. This rule is a generalization of the 'absorption of the boundary spin'-principle of Affleck and Ludwig and applies to all theories which have a description as a coset model. We give a formulation for coset models with arbitrary modular invariant partition function and present evidence for the conjectured rule. The second half of the article contains an illustrated section of examples where the rule is applied to unitary minimal models of the A- and D-series, in particular the 3-state Potts model, and to parafermion theories. We demonstrate how the rule can be used to compute brane charge groups in the example of N=2 minimal models.

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Non-commutative gauge theory of twisted D-branes

In this work we propose new non-commutative gauge theories that describe the dynamics of branes localized along twisted conjugacy classes on group manifolds. Our proposal is based on a careful analysis of the exact microscopic solution and it generalizes the matrix models (`fuzzy gauge theories') that are used to study e.g. the bound state formation of point-like branes in a curved background. We also construct a large number of classical solutions and interpret them in terms of condensation processes on branes localized along twisted conjugacy classes.

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D-Branes in Coset Models

The analysis of D-branes in coset models G/H provides a natural extension of recent studies on branes in WZW-theory and it has various interesting applications to physically relevant models. In this work we develop a reduction procedure that allows to construct the non-commutative gauge theories which govern the dynamics of branes in G/H. We obtain a large class of solutions and interprete the associated condensation processes geometrically. The latter are used to propose conservation laws for the dynamics of branes in coset models at large level k. In super-symmetric theories, conserved charges are argued to take their values in the representation ring of the denominator theory. Finally, we apply the general results to study boundary fixed points in two examples, namely for parafermions and minimal models.

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Brane Dynamics in CFT Backgrounds

In this note we discuss bound states of un- or meta-stable brane configurations in various non-trivial (curved) backgrounds. We begin by reviewing some known results concerning brane dynamics on group manifolds. These are then employed to study condensation in cosets of the WZW model. While the basic ideas are more general, our presentation focuses on parafermion theories and, closely related, N=2 superconformal minimal models. We determine the (non-commutative) low energy effective actions for all maximally symmetric branes in a decoupling limit of the two theories. These actions are used to show that the lightest branes can be regarded as elementary constituents for all other maximally symmetric branes.

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Branes on Group Manifolds, Gluon Condensates, and twisted K-theory

In this work we study the dynamics of branes on group manifolds G deep in the stringy regime. After giving a brief overview of the various branes that can be constructed within the boundary conformal field theory approach, we analyze in detail the condensation processes that occur on stacks of such branes. At large volume our discussion is based on certain effective gauge theories on non-commutative `fuzzy' spaces. Using the `absorption of the boundary spin'-principle which was formulated by Affleck and Ludwig in their work on the Kondo model, we extrapolate the brane dynamics into the stringy regime. For supersymmetric theories, the resulting condensation processes turn out to be consistent with the existence of certain conserved charges taking values in some non-trivial discrete abelian groups. We obtain strong constraints on these charge groups for G = SU(N). The results may be compared with a recent proposal of Bouwknegt and Mathai according to which charge groups on curved spaces X (with a non-vanishing NSNS 3-form field strength H) are given by the twisted K-groups K*_H(X).

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Quantum mechanics of baryogenesis

The cosmological baryon asymmetry can be explained as remnant of heavy Majorana neutrino decays in the early universe. We study this out-of-equilibrium process by means of Kadanoff-Baym equations which are solved in a perturbative expansion. To leading order the problem is reduced to solving a set of Boltzmann equations for distribution functions.

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Elements of Baryogenesis

Basic ingredients of the theory of baryogenesis are reviewed with emphasis on out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy particles. The present use of kinetic theory is explained and some attempts to go beyond the classical Boltzmann equations are discussed.

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